Screencasts and Video Tutorials

The Research Process: Part 1

Open this video for the first of a 3-part introduction to the research process. Part 1 focuses on encyclopedias. It was made with open source footage from Flickr and the Internet Archive, as well as audio clips from SoundBible.com.
About 2 minutes.

The Research Process: Part 2

Open this video for the second of a 3-part introduction to the research process. Part 2 focuses on using the catalogue and bibliographies to find books. It was made with open source footage from Flickr and the Internet Archive, as well as audio clips from SoundBible.com.
About 2 minutes, 20 seconds.

The Research Process: Part 3

Open this video for the third of a 3-part introduction to the research process. Part 3 focuses on using an article database to find scholarly journal articles. It was made with open source footage from Flickr and the Internet Archive, as well as audio clips from SoundBible.com.
About 2 minutes, 40 seconds.

What is Information?

Information. You sort through it all the time in your daily life, and for your research. But what does the word actually mean? This video offers some suggestions. Some footage was taken by Mackenzie Keith for the Kelly Library. The rest is gratefully used with a Creative Commons license from Flickr and the Internet Archive. With audio.
About 2 minutes.

Getting Scholarly Sources Part 1: Introduction

When researching, you have to wade through many sources. You can't read them all in detail: they're not all relevant. This video introduces scholarly sources and suggests how to start finding them. Footage is gratefully used with a Creative Commons license from the Prelinger Archive collection at the Internet Archive. With audio.
About 1 minute, 40 seconds.

When researching, you have to wade through many sources. You can't read them all in detail: they're not all relevant. This video introduces scholarly sources and suggests how to start finding them. Footage is gratefully used with a Creative Commons license from the Prelinger Archive collection at the Internet Archive. With audio.
About 1 minute, 10 seconds.

Getting Scholarly Sources Part 3: Online Sources

When researching, you have to wade through many sources. You can't read them all in detail: they're not all relevant. This video introduces scholarly sources and suggests how to start finding them. Footage is gratefully used with a Creative Commons license from the Prelinger Archive collection at the Internet Archive. With audio.
About 1 minute, 40 seconds.

Getting Scholarly Articles Using Summon

Find out how to find relevant scholarly journal articles easily from the UofT Libraries homepage. This video demonstrates Summon, a huge database containing links to reams of full-text articles in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences. About 4 minutes.

Getting Started: Where to Go for Books and Articles

This brief video shows you where to go on the UofT Libraries website to get books and scholarly articles. Images are used with an open source license from Flickr, and were created by Flickr users Judsond, Frisno Bostrm, and the Robert E. Kennedy Library.
About 40 seconds.

Efficient Catalogue Searching 1

Open this video to get a simple introduction to finding books on your topic using the UofT Libraries Catalogue. It explains how to begin searching for relevant material on your topic, and how to narrow by subject. About 1.5 minutes.

Efficient Catalogue Searching 2

Continuing on from Efficient Catalogue Searching 1, this video shows you how to harness subject headings and Boolean terms in the UofT Libraries Catalogue to find a top-notch list of results on your topic.About 4 minutes.

Historical Abstracts: Advanced Searching

This screencast shows you how to take advantage of several advanced options in the database, including how to use boolean operators to perform a precise search, gather details about a publication, and import citations into Refworks. Created by Ryan Nayler. About 5 minutes.

This quiz will test your knowledge and confidence on a range of research skills, from using the library catalogue efficiently to identifying primary sources, distinguishing between publication types, using citations, and evaluating sources. Using a menu, you can jump to the skill you want to test. You'll get a score at the end, along with a chance to review the quiz. To test one skill, about 5 minutes.For the whole quiz, about 15 minutes.

Essay Research Tips Episode 1: Getting Started

University of Toronto undergrads offer essay research tips for their classmates. Made at the John M. Kelly Library, St Michael’s, University of Toronto. Musical track written and performed by Dan-O. About 4 minutes, 30 seconds.

Library Primer

This tutorial is aimed at those new to university and those who'd like a refresher. It introduces library catalogues, article databases, and article database providers. Images are used with an open source license from Flickr, and were created by Flickr users: haaaley, Jordan Liang, Maarten Van Damme, Danielle Scott, ldysw357/Angie, Hannah Lee and Josh Lawton.
About 2.5 minutes.

Citation: An Introduction

Open this video to get a basic introduction to citing sources: what they are, what they're composed of, and why you need them. It distinguishes between bibliographies and in-text citation, and between catalogue and article database records, as well as introducing parenthetical citation, footnotes, and citation styles. The focus is on what citation is in general, rather than on how to apply a particular citation style. Images are used with an open source license from Flickr and were created by Flickr users Hoveringdog, Crabchick, and Mike Cattell.
About 2 minutes.

Essay Reading: Getting Started

So you've been to the library and got books and articles for your essay. Now what? This video offers tips on quickly skimming the books and articles in your pile to help you filter out the barren from the fruitful. It also introduces the main idea--the chief argument or gist of a piece of writing. Images are used with an open source license from Flickr, and were created by these Flickr users: Chiara Ogan, Waifer X, Cory Dalus, TheLichfieldBlog / Ross Hawkes, holeymoon, Quinn Dombrowski and Andy Delcambre. Two images were used with an open source license from the Internet Archive.
About 3 minutes.

Essay Reading: In-Depth

You've got the books and articles you want--time to read in earnest. This video introduces in-depth reading and covers such topics as the main idea, supporting details, and reading for problems, arguments, and evidence. Images are used with an open source license from Flickr, and were created by these Flickr users: Kaptain Kobold/Alan, das_miller, and lovestruck./Gillie. Adapted from ideas found in The Craft of Research by Booth, Columb, and Williams.
About 2 minutes.

Essay Note-taking: A Basic Guide

This introductory guide to essay note-taking is adapted from ideas found in The Craft of Research by Booth, Columb, and Williams. It offers note-taking tips, a method for organizing notes on your computer, and shows how to distinguish in your notes between paraphrase, quotation, and your own remarks. Images are used with an open source license from Flickr, and were created by these Flickr users: AmsterdamPrinting.com and Vctor Nuo.
About 4.5 minutes.

Introduction to Refworks

This video provides an introduction to creating an instant bibliography in Refworks, a handy bibliographic tool free for UofT students. Refworks lets you easily add citations from the library catalogue and article databases into a folder on your essay topic. This tutorial shows how to add citations from both the catalogue and an article database, and then format these references into an instant bibliography.About 9 minutes.